A sign at the Vidhana Soudha's portal proclaims, "Government work is God's work." However, a secret CBI dossier says it isn't work that preoccupies people in the hub of the administration, but viewing porn on official computers during office hours.

The dossier, which has been forwarded to the criminal investigation department (CID), is an offshoot of the CBI monitoring internet activities in government offices. Sources in the CID confirmed having received the file, but were tight-lipped on follow it.

"We found that the internet protocol with kar.nic.in was extensively used by government employees in the state to view pornography, particularly from Vidhana Soudha. This was discovered when our cyber experts conducted anti-terrorism surveillance. Vidhana Soudha employees were found visiting websites with porn," said a senior officer.

"Using official computers to view porn is an act of indiscipline and attracts punishment. As per the provisions of the I-T Act, individuals can view porn on the internet through their own devices, but not through public or official devices," said an intelligence officer.

DS Ravindran, CEO, e-governance, said: "We have policies to prevent such misuse, and expect all government employees to be responsible. I will try to introduce filters and firewalls to block all offensive websites."

What the law says

Whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published in electronic form any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest, or if its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely... to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it, shall be punished on first conviction with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to Rs 1 lakh. In the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and also with a fine, which may extend to Rs 2 lakh.

— Section 67 of the IT Act

Reproduced from Times of India